AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Orlando Magic made a lineup change Monday night, going with Victor Oladipo as the starting point guard against the Detroit Pistons in place of injured point guard Elfrid Payton.

But because of Payton's recent struggles on the defensive end of the court, the change would have occurred even if Payton had been completely healthy, coach Scott Skiles said.

The question Skiles has is whether Payton has been slowed by the left-ankle sprain he suffered on Dec. 18 and the right-ankle sprain he suffered on Dec. 28.

Payton sustained an additional injury — a painful bruise — to his left ankle during the Magic's loss in Cleveland on Saturday when an opposing player kicked him in the area.

"We need to find out if the injury is the reason that he's moving around the way that he is," Skiles said. "If that's the case, then hopefully just a couple of days' rest or something [will be all that's needed] and then he should be fine again. And we're hopeful that that's the case."

The Magic have struggled to slow opposing point guards' dribble penetration in recent weeks, and it's a reason — but not the only reason — the team's defense has slipped badly.

Oladipo is a natural shooting guard, but he's the team's best defender of opposing shooting guards and opposing point guards.

"He's our best defensive 1 and 2, but he's really good on the ball," Skiles said. "We need that right now. We need his strength right there at that position. And then offensively, even though it's not maybe his natural position, we're trying to simplify things for him. We want all of our guys to be aggressive, but we want him to be aggressive and sort of make decisions on the fly, and just hopefully he makes good decisions."

Payton played in all 82 games during his rookie season and played in all 34 games before Monday. Payton cannot remember ever missing a basketball game due to injury in elementary school, high school or college. As far as he can recall, he only missed one athletic contest his whole life because of a physical issue; he said he missed a peewee football game because he had the chicken pox.

Payton would've liked to play against the Pistons, even though he acknowledged his left ankle bruise still hurt.

"I'm still a little disappointed about it just because I want to play," he said.

When asked how much his ankle injuries impacted him on defense, Payton declined to answer. He said he didn't want to make any excuses.

Impressed by Hezonja

Leading up to the 2015 NBA Draft, the Pistons heavily scouted FC Barcelona swingman Mario Hezonja.

Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy, who also serves as Detroit's president of basketball operations, interviewed Hezonja in Spain before the draft.

Pistons officials also attended two of Hezonja's games.

But the Pistons never got a chance to draft Hezonja. Detroit held the eighth overall pick, and Orlando drafted Hezonja fifth overall.

Van Gundy, through his scouting for Monday night's game, has seen Hezonja play for the Magic and he said Hezonja's play so far confirms Van Gundy's initial evaluation.

"I think he's a very, very good athlete who can really shoot the ball," Van Gundy said. "Like all these young guys, he's going to get better at a lot of the other areas of the game. But it's a good starting point to have great athleticism and an ability to shoot. That's two pretty good building blocks for a player."

Asked how his interview with Hezonja went, Van Gundy said: "I liked him a lot. I thought he was a supremely confident kid who had a great desire to be a great player. So I came away impressed."